Digest whorl.v012.n007

Timothy Reilly · 23 Nov 2000, 06:01 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: "Timothy Reilly" <treilly at ozemail.com.au>
Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v012.n007
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 17:01:59 +1100
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0024 at digest.urth.net>
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Rostrum wrote:

> I'll be reading IGJ soon, so I'll be able to catch up with the rest of the
> discussion.  I'll be happy if it's half as good as OBW!

Sadly I don't think IGJ is even half as good.  I thought OBW was wonderful,
but IGJ is getting too confusing with its astral dream travel all over the
place.  Also do we really need yet another story about how a clever man
helps defeat a superior enemy on the battlefield by a ruse of some sort?
This occurred not only in OBW as well, but constantly in Western literature
since at least the Iliad.  I missed the point of this part of the plot.  The
obscurity of who the protagonist is and why he does what he does left me a
bit irritated after a while.  Too much magic and uncertainty seems to be
creeping into the plot, and it makes it much harder to identify with the
protagonist's problems or choices.  As has been pointed out before, why
doesn't he just try, with Fava's help perhaps, to astral travel back to
Nettle, where he says he wants to be?

On a point of detail, I didn't read the bit where the narrator sees Silk
covered in blood as being a suicide attempt - since he's meant to be getting
a new body, a dead or dying post-suicide one wouldn't be very effective!
The speculation about a head removal is fascinating, though I confess I just
read it as a sacrificial orgy to try to revitalise Hyacinth.

The cover for RTTW looks pretty bad, but they've been going downhill since
OBW.  Could be a giant super-Baldanders type in RTTW, though the one
pictured is far too big for earth strength gravity (which is why Baldanders
went underwater ofcourse).  Or could be Wolfe in a silly hat, but I hope
not!

Tim

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